This article will discuss the different types of artifacts involved in project management and typical documents for each. A checklist of project artifacts per phase is included at the end. This can be used as an aide-mémoire to help you create your own documentation.
What is an artifact?
Artifacts in The PMBOK Guide – Seventh edition
What if you don’t use PMI?
1. Strategy artifacts
2. Logs and registersIs it log or register?
3. Plans
4. Hierarchy charts
5. Baselines
6. Information and visual data
7. Reports
8. Contracts and agreements
9. Other
Artifacts of project management by phase
FAQWhat are some examples?
What does mandatory artifacts mean?
What are the different types of artifacts used in project management?
What is an artifact?
An artifact is something that you create. Artifacts are used in project management to refer to documents, templates or outputs.
The term is used to describe the documentation that you create for the project. It describes and supports the work that you are doing. Artifacts are not what you create as an output of the project.
A project management artifact could be the project closing document. A new app is the project deliverable.
Artifacts in The PMBOK Guide – Seventh edition
The PMBOK(r), Guide – Seventh Edition categorizes artifacts into nine types. This article will focus on that.
Essential readA Guide To The Project Management Body of Knowledge(PMBOK(R) Guide) (PMBOK[r] Guide)PS50.00A Guide To The Project Management Body of Knowledge, also known as the PMBOK (r) Guide — 6th edition) is essential reading to prepare for the PMI exams.
Amazon: Click this link to make a purchase. No additional cost to you #ad05/30/2022 12 :02 GMT. But what if your company doesn’t use PMI?
Documents are documents. No matter if you follow the PMI approach or another based on your skills, certifications, or expectations of management, you will need to create project documentation.
Even though this list is based on PMI materials it can still be useful for you, even if your approach is different. Yes, agile project management artifacts are mentioned.
These are the 9 types of artifacts:
Strategy
Registers and logs
Plans
Hierarchy charts
Baselines
Information and visual data
Reports
Contracts and agreements
Other – A bucket category for everything else.
Let’s take a closer look at each one. You’ll notice that not all the obvious stuff is listed for each category. This could be because it’s not clearly required for management purposes or simply because it’s not very obvious. You won’t find industry-specific artifacts mentioned. This means that if you work in a highly regulated area, some of the standard documents you would expect to produce might not be included.
If the artifact is a result of another project management method or tactic it will not be mentioned here. An example of this is an estimate, which is the obvious output from the estimation process. Therefore, estimates are not mentioned as a separate project artifact.
The Seventh Edition authors want to avoid duplication and keep the approach simple!
Okay, let’s get on with it: Here’s a list of project management artifacts.
1. Strategy artifacts
Documentation that relates to project initiation and strategy is the first category. This is not a complete list.
Business case
Statement of project vision
Project charter
Roadmap
These documents are created at the beginning of a project and do not normally change. Having said this, I have worked on projects where these documents have changed. A lot depends on how the project evolves and you know that something will always be different. This category is, in principle, the strategic high-level stuff that the project involves and is not something you would need to update frequently once it’s completed.
These artifacts will be used for project management.